Touch screen device and operating method thereof

ABSTRACT

A touch screen device and operating method thereof are provided. The touch screen device includes a screen including a display configured to display images thereon and a detector configured to detect a user touch and movement thereof, a storage device configured to store image information corresponding to the movement, and a controller configured to retrieve and display an image corresponding to the detected drag. The image may include at least one of a trace image representing a moving trajectory, an icon image, or a text image.

This is a Continuation application of Ser. No. 11/646,587 filed on Dec.28, 2006, which claims priority to Application Serial No.10-2006-10046710 filed on May 24, 2006 in Korea, which are incorporatedherein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

A touch screen device and an operating method thereof are disclosedherein.

2. Background

Touch screen devices are applied to a variety of terminal devices toallow, for example, menus, operation status, or data in the form ofpictures, characters, or images to be output. Recently, a variety ofdisplay devices, such as liquid crystal display (LCD) panels and plasmadisplay panels (PDPs), have been developed in connection with a touchscreen technology.

A touch screen device allows a user to click or drag a screen displayedthereon in a uniform pattern in order to receive commands. However,there is a problem in that unintended commands may be input if the useris not familiar with the pattern.

Further, a conventional touch screen device receives an input from auser to only execute the user input. Therefore, there is another problemin that the touch screen device cannot actively cope with the userinput.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A touch screen device and operating method are provided according toembodiments disclosed herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages will becomeapparent from the following description of embodiments given inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a touch screen device according to anembodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a touch screen device according to anembodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method of operating a touch screen deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 4A is an exemplary view showing a trace image displayed on thetouch screen device according to an embodiment;

FIG. 4B is an exemplary view showing an icon image displayed on thetouch screen device according to an embodiment;

FIGS. 4C and 4D are exemplary views showing text images displayed on thetouch screen device according to an embodiment; and

FIGS. 5A to 5C are exemplary views showing an embodiment operated in aplayback mode of an exemplary MP3 player.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of a touch screen device responding to a userinput and an operating method thereof will be described in detail withreference to the accompanying drawings.

The touch screen device according to embodiments may be utilized withdigital equipment, such as a MP3 player, a portable media player, a PDA,a portable terminal, a navigation system, and a notebook computer.Moreover, the touch screen device according to embodiments may be usedwith electronic books, newspapers, magazines, etc., different types ofportable devices, for example, handsets, MP3 players, notebookcomputers, etc., audio applications, navigation applications,televisions, monitors, or other types of devices using a display, eithermonochrome or color. For convenience of explanation, an MP3 player willbe described herein by way of example. Further, touch can include anytype of direct or indirect touch or contact, using, for example, afinger or stylus.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a touch screen device according to anembodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, a touch screen device 1 according to anembodiment may comprise a screen 10 having a function of inputting anddisplaying information. The screen 10 may comprise a display 12 fordisplaying a plurality of menu information, such as icons and datathereon, and a detector 14 for detecting a touching action to selectmenus 40 or data displayed on the display 12. When the screen 10 istouched to select the menus 40 or data displayed on the screen 10 using,for example, a finger 60 or a stylus pen, the detector 14 may detectwhether the screen 10 has been touched.

The display 12 may be a general screen display device, such as a liquidcrystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), a light emittingdiode (LED), or an organic light emitting diode (OLED) can be used. Inthis embodiment, the detector 14 may be a thin layer provided on thefront surface of the display 12, which employs a resistive or capacitivemethod; however, other touch screens, such as a touch screen thatutilizes infrared rays may also be utilized.

In the case of the resistive touch screen, the touch screen may beconfigured in such a manner that two layers coated with resistivematerials are provided and kept at a constant interval and electriccurrents are supplied to both the layers. If pressure is applied to alayer to come into contact with another layer, an amount of electriccurrent flowing along the layers may be changed and a touch point thusdetected by the change of electric current. In the case of a capacitivetouch screen, the touch screen may be configured in such a manner thatboth surfaces of glass are coated with conductive metal and electricvoltage applied to edges of the glass. In this embodiment, highfrequencies flow along the surface of the touch screen and a highfrequency waveform may be distorted when a finger is touched on thesurface of the touch screen, and thus, a touch point detected by thechange of the waveform.

The screen 10 may be connected to a controller 20 that controls anaccess command corresponding to the menu 40 selected according to thedetection results of the detector 14 or data, such as additionalinformation or messages to be described below, from a storage device 30,and thus, the display of the command or data onto the screen 10.

The controller 20 may control not only the aforementioned display 12,but also the overall operations of digital equipment. Further, thecontroller 20 may operate the digital equipment according to thedetection results of the detector 30.

Meanwhile, according to one embodiment, the controller 20 may retrieveimages such as icons or texts, in accordance with a drag and displaysthe images on a moving trajectory of the menu 40. The controller 20 mayfurther comprise a display point calculator 22 and a retrieving device24. The display point calculator 22 may calculate a point on the screen10, on which a menu 40 is displayed, in accordance with a detectionsignal applied from the detector 14. In addition, the retrieving device24 may retrieve images, such as icons or texts, which are previouslyassigned, in accordance with the selected menus touched, for example, bythe finger 60 or stylus pen, among the menus 40 displayed on the screen10, from the storage device 30.

Therefore, the controller 20 may display the image retrieved from theretrieving device 24 on the moving trajectory between a point calculatedby the display point calculator 22 and a point where the menu 40 isselected. The displayed icon may be displayed in various ways, such as asingle icon, a combination of a plurality of icons, or an iteration ofthe plurality of icons.

The controller 20 may be connected to the storage device 30 forproviding images to the retrieving device 24. The storage device 30 maybe provided with a hard disk or memory in which, for example, operationcontrol methods, displaying methods, and/or images are stored. Theimages may include, for example, trace images 50 a, icons, pictures,photographs and avatars, and words, sentences, or texts, which arepreviously assigned in accordance with the menus 40.

More particularly, the icons may be constructed in the form of a symbolor a small picture using, for examples, symbols, characters, figures, orgraphics to represent the functions of various kinds of, for example,programs, commands, and data files, instead of characters. In otherwords, icons with special features may be displayed such that even usersof different languages may use the functions.

Such icons have been recently developed in a variety of forms, such asemoticons or face marks. The emoticons may be constructed in a varietyof forms, from a type using simple symbols to a type using complexgraphics. Accordingly, in disclosed embodiments, the icons related tothe menus 40 may be previously assigned and stored in the storage device30.

In FIG. 2, a touch screen device according to an embodiment is describedin more detail. As shown in FIG. 2, the screen 10 may comprises a touchscreen or detector 14 and a display 12. In one embodiment, a thin filmtransistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) may be used as the display12.

The touch screen or detector 14 may be connected to a touch screen ordetector controller 42 for signalizing a touch detected on the touchscreen or detector 14. The display 12 and the touch screen or detectorcontroller 42 may be connected to and operated under the control of themain controller 44. The main controller 44 may be configured such that atouch type may be detected by extracting the touch point and movingtrajectory from digital signals input from the touch panel or detectorcontroller 42, as described above.

Further, an image storage device 30 for storing information on images tobe displayed by the touch may be connected to the main controller 44.The image information stored in the image image storage device 30 may beclassified by the operation mode and contain an image corresponding to aspecific touch. Further, the image storage device 30 may store voiceinformation corresponding to the touch to transmit voice informationsimultaneously when an image is displayed.

Furthermore, a data image storage device 36 for storing, for example,MP3 files may be connected to the main controller 44. For example, aNAND memory capable of rapidly and easily storing and reading out alarge amount of information may be used as the data image storage device36.

A portion of the data image storage device 36 may be used as the imagestorage device 30. However, providing a separate image storage device 30constructed of a NOR memory that is relatively superior in the stabilityof information may be advantageous.

In addition, a universal serial bus (USB) port 48 serving as aninterface for modifying data may be connected to the main controller 44.The USB port 48 may be connected to an external device such that theimage and voice information may be updated, deleted, or modified.

Moreover, the main controller 44 may be provided with a random accessmemory (RAM) 47 for driving the display device, for which a synchronousdynamic RANI (SDRAM) may be used.

Hereinafter, the operation of a touch screen device according to anembodiment will be described in detail.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method of operating a touch screen deviceaccording to an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the operation of thetouch screen device starts from detecting a touch or drag on the screenby the detector 14, in step S10.

If the detector 14 detects a touch on the screen 10, the retrievingdevice 24 in the controller 20 may identify a drag type and retrieve animage corresponding to the identified drag type from the image storagedevice 30, in step S20. The image may be, for example, a trace image 50a showing a drag trajectory, an icon image 50 b, or a text image 50 c.

The trace image 50 a may be displayed along the drag trajectory.Further, the trace image may gradually fade away as a predetermined timeperiod passes. Further, the retrieving device 24 may further retrievevoice information together with the image, in step S30. In this case,the voice information may be stored in the storage device 30. Theretrieving device 24 may retrieve the voice information in accordancewith the drag moving trajectory.

After retrieving the image, the display point calculator 22 maycalculate a point where the image is displayed, in step S40. Thereafter,the controller 20 may display the image at the calculated point, in stepS50. The image may include at least one of a trace image 50 a, iconimage 50 b, or text image 50 c.

At the same time, the controller 20 may output voice information, instep S60. That is, in certain embodiments, voice information may beselectively transmitted.

Next, the controller 20 may determine whether the drag is released, instep S70. The reason that it is determined whether the drag has beenreleased is that the display of the image may be terminated if the draghas been released, or the display point or type of the image may bechanged if the drag is maintained.

Hereinafter, operations of another embodiment will be described by wayof example.

FIG. 4A is an exemplary view showing a trace image displayed on a touchscreen device according to an embodiment. FIG. 4B is an exemplary viewshowing an icon image displayed on a touch screen device according to anembodiment. FIG. 4C is an exemplary view showing a text image displayedon a touch screen device according to an embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 4A, if a finger 60 touches a desired menu 40 and dragsthe selected menu to a predetermined point in a menu selection mode, atrace image 50 a may be displayed along the drag moving trajectory. Inthis example, the trace image 50 a may gradually fade away as timepasses. As shown in FIG. 4A, therefore, a more blurred trace image maybe displayed as the trace image becomes farther away from the image ofthe menu 40.

On the other hand, FIG. 4B shows an icon image 50 b displayed. There area variety of icon images 50 b which may be selected in accordance withthe contents of the selected menus 40. That is, as shown in FIG. 4B,since a user has selected the “MP3” menu 40, an image indicating musicmay be displayed.

Alternatively, FIG. 4C shows a text image displayed. The text image 50 cis may be descriptive of the selected menu 40. As shown in FIG. 4C,therefore, a text image 50 c of “MP3 playback mode” describing the menu40 may be displayed when the “MP3” menu 40 has been selected.

FIG. 4D shows a text image 50 c displayed when no menu 40 is selected inthe menu selection mode. As shown in FIG. 4D, when no menu 40 isselected, a text image 50 c describing the above circumstance may bedisplayed. The text image 50 c of “No selected menus” may be displayedby way of example, as shown in FIG. 4D.

Alternatively, an image may be displayed for a predetermined period oftime and then the image may be changed. In one embodiment, the image maybe changed based on a distance of the movement or drag.

FIGS. 4A to 4D show that embodiments are operated in a menu selectionmode by way of example. However, the disclosed embodiments may beimplemented in various modes of an MP3 player and may also be generallyemployed in digital equipment mounted with a touch screen device.

FIGS. 5A to 5C show an embodiment operated in a file playback mode of anMP3 player. In such a case, a user drag is shown as an example tocorrespond to a user command to turn up the volume of the MP3 player.

As shown in FIG. 5A, if a drag is executed corresponding to thevolume-up in the playback mode, a trace image 50 a may be displayedalong the moving trajectory of the drag. In one embodiment, the traceimage 50 a may gradually fades away as time passes.

Further, an icon image 50 b may be displayed as shown in FIG. 5B. Thereare a variety of icon images 50 b which may be selected to be equivalentto the user command corresponding to the drag. That is, an image 50 bdepicting an increase of volume of the MP3 player may be displayed asshown in FIG. 5B.

In addition, FIG. 5C shows a text image 50 c displayed. The text image50 c may be descriptive of a user command corresponding to the drag.Accordingly, a text image of “Volume Up” may be displayed in FIG. 5C.

According to another embodiment shown in Fig.5C, a user touches thescreen 10 with a touching implement, such as, for example, a finger 60.Other touching implements, such as, for example, a stylus pen may alsobe appropriate. As shown in Fig. 5C, the user touches one side of thescreen 10 and upwardly moves the touch. In this embodiment, when thescreen 10 is touched or the touch point is changed on the screen 10, thecontroller 20 may detect the touch and the change of the touch point andselect a relevant user command. After selecting the user command, thecontroller 20 may stand by until the user releases the touch. If theuser does not release the touch even after a predetermined period oftime has elapsed, the controller 20 may display additional informationrelated to the user command indicated by the user's touch and the movingtrajectory as shown in Fig. 5C. In this example, the type of dragcorresponds to a user command to turn up the volume, and thus, thecontroller 20 may display a corresponding information image such as“Volume Up.”

If the user releases the touch within the predetermined period of time,the controller 20 may simply execute the user command. However, beforeexecuting the user command, the controller 20 may examine whether themoving trajectory is a return trajectory and the touch release point isidentical to the touch point. By returning to the original touch point,the user may cancel the user command. Therefore, if the user recognizesthat an erroneous input has been made while performing the drag actionon the detector 14, the user may merely return the drag trajectory tothe initial touch point with the finger 60 still in contact with thedetector 14, and then the user may release the touch. Therefore, whenthe moving trajectory is a return trajectory and the touch release pointis essentially the same as the initial touch point, the controller 20may not execute the user command. If the moving trajectory may not drawa return trajectory and the touch is normally released as describedabove, the controller 20 may execute the selected user command.

In a touch screen device and operating method thereof according toembodiments as described above in detail, at least the followingadvantages may be expected.

Since information corresponding to a user drag can be representedthrough a variety of images, a user can understand what kinds ofoperations the user performs during the touch screen manipulations.Thus, erroneous touch screen manipulations may be minimized.

In addition, when a user manipulates a touch screen device, the touchscreen device may change display images in response to the usermanipulations. Therefore, the user may enjoy visual pleasure and anintelligent interface responding to the user behaviors may be obtained.

Embodiments provide a touch screen device responding to a user input,wherein visual images such as icons or texts, which are previouslyassigned to a moving trajectory of a dragged menu, may be retrieved anddisplayed.

According to one embodiment broadly described herein, there is provideda touch screen device responding to a user input, including a screenunit including a display unit for displaying images thereon and adetection unit for detecting a user's touch and movement thereof (drag),an image storage unit for storing image information corresponding to thedrag, and a control unit for retrieving and displaying an imagecorresponding to the detected drag. The control unit may include aretrieving unit for retrieving the image corresponding to the drag, anda display point calculating unit for calculating a point where theretrieved image is displayed. The image may be displayed to represent atrace of a moving trajectory of the drag.

The control unit may display the image for a predetermined period oftime and cause the image to gradually fade away as time passes. Further,the image may be an icon or a combination of icons which is previouslyassigned in accordance with the drag. Also, the image may be a sentenceor word which is previously assigned in accordance with the drag. Voiceinformation corresponding to the drag may be stored in the image storageunit, and the control unit may display an image corresponding to thedrag and simultaneously output the voice information.

According to another embodiment broadly described herein, there isprovided a method of operating a touch screen device responding to auser input, including detecting a user's touch and movement thereof(drag), retrieving an image corresponding to the drag, and displayingthe retrieved image. The method may further include retrieving voiceinformation corresponding to the drag, and outputting the retrievedvoice information.

The image may represent a trace of the drag. Also, the image maygradually fade away as time passes.

Further, the image may be an icon or a combination of icons which ispreviously assigned in accordance with the drag. In addition, the imagemay be a word or sentence which previously assigned in accordance withthe drag.

According to a further embodiment broadly disclosed herein, there isprovided digital equipment mounted with a touch screen device whichincludes a screen unit including a display unit for displaying imagesthereon and a detection unit for detecting a user's touch and movementthereof (drag), an image storage unit for storing image informationcorresponding to the drag, and a control unit for retrieving anddisplaying an image corresponding to the detected drag. The image mayrepresent a trace of a moving trajectory of the drag and gradually fadeaway as time passes.

With the disclosed embodiments, images displayed on the touch screendevice may vary according to the user touch screen manipulations.Therefore, the user can easily identify input contents displayed on thetouch screen device.

Embodiments broadly disclosed herein further provide a touch screendevice, including a screen comprising a display configured to displayimages thereon and a detector configured to detect a touch and movementthereof, a storage device configured to store image informationcorresponding to the movement, and a controller configured to retrieveand display an image corresponding to the detected movement. Thecontroller may include a retrieving device configured to retrieve theimage corresponding to the movement, and a display point calculatorconfigured to calculate a point where the retrieved image is displayed.

The image may be displayed to represent a trace of a moving trajectoryof the movement. Further, the image may represent a drag.

Additionally, the controller may display the image for a predeterminedperiod of time and cause the image to gradually fade away as timepasses. Further, the controller may display the image for predeterminedperiod of time and then change the image. The image may be changed basedon a distance of the movement.

The image may be an icon or a combination of icons previously assignedin accordance with the movement. Further, the image may be a sentence orword previously assigned in accordance with the movement. Voiceinformation corresponding to the movement may further be stored in thestorage device, and the controller may display an image corresponding tothe movement and simultaneously output the voice information.

Digital equipment may comprise the touch screen device. The digitalequipment may include a MP3 player, a portable media player, a PDA, aportable terminal, a navigation system, or a notebook computer.

Embodiments broadly disclosed herein further provide a touch screendevice, including a touch panel configured to detect a screen touch, atouch panel controller configured to signalize the touch detected on thetouch panel and control the touch panel, a display configured to displayimages, an image image storage device configured to store an imagecorresponding to a touch detected on the touch panel, and a maincontroller configured to control operations of the touch panelcontroller and the display. The image storage device may further storevoice information corresponding to the touch. The main controller maycalculate a point and direction of the touch from a digital signalreceived from the touch panel controller. Further, the main controllermay retrieve at least one of the image information and voice informationcorresponding to the point and direction of the touch from the imageimage storage device and execute the retrieved information according tothe touch point and direction.

The image information and voice information may be classified byoperation mode. The image storage device may be a NOR flash memory.

The device may further include a USB port connected to an externaldevice configured to update or modify the image information and voiceinformation stored in the image image storage device. Additionally, thedevice may include a data image storage device configured to store dataof the touch screen device, and a RAM configured to drive the touchscreen. A portion of the data image storage device may be configuredinto the image storage device.

The image may be an image displayed to represent a trace of a dragtrajectory. The main controller may display the image for apredetermined period of time and cause the image to gradually fade awayas time passes. Further, the controller may display the image for aperiod of time and then change the image. The image may be changed basedon a distance of the movement.

The image may be an icon or a combination of icons which is previouslyassigned in accordance with a drag. Further, the image may be a sentenceor word which is previously assigned in accordance with a drag. Also,the main controller may display an image corresponding to the touch andsimultaneously transmit the voice information.

Embodiments broadly disclosed herein further provide a method ofoperating a touch screen device, including detecting a touch andmovement thereof, retrieving an image corresponding to the movement, anddisplaying the retrieved image. The method may further includeretrieving voice information corresponding to the movement, andoutputting the retrieved voice information.

The image may represent a trace of the movement. The image may representa drag.

The image may gradually fade away as time passes. The image may changeafter a predetermined period of time. The image may be changed based ona predetermined distance of movement.

The image may be an icon or a combination of icons previously assignedin accordance with the movement. The image may be a word or sentencepreviously assigned in accordance with the movement.

A method of operating digital equipment mounted with a touch screendevice, may include the method. The digital equipment may include a MP3player, a portable media player, a portable terminal, a navigationsystem, or a notebook computer.

Any reference in this specification to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” “example embodiment,” etc., means that a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. Theappearances of such phrases in various places in the specification arenot necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Further, when aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic is described inconnection with any embodiment, it is submitted that it is within thepurview of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, orcharacteristic in connection with other ones of the embodiments.

Although embodiments have been described with reference to a number ofillustrative embodiments thereof, it should be understood that numerousother modifications and embodiments can be devised by those skilled inthe art that will fall within the spirit and scope of the principles ofthis invention. More particularly, reasonable variations andmodifications are possible in the component parts and/or arrangements ofthe subject combination arrangement within the scope of the foregoingdisclosure, the drawings and the appended claims without departing fromthe spirit of the disclosure. In addition to variations andmodifications in the component parts and/or arrangements, alternativeuses will also be apparent to those skilled in the art.

1. A touch screen device, comprising: a screen comprising a displayconfigured to display a menu thereon and a detector configured to detecta touch on the menu and movement thereof; a storage device configured tostore image information corresponding to the movement; and a controllerconfigured to: retrieve an image corresponding to the detected movement,the image being at least one of a drag image, an icon, a combination oficons, or text, wherein the image is different from the menu; generatethe retrieved image to be displayed along a moving trajectory of themovement together with the menu with which the touch is associated ifthe touch is maintained on the screen for a predetermined period oftime; and prevent the retrieved image from being displayed if the touchis released from the screen before the predetermined period of timeelapses, wherein the controller is further configured to: calculate adirection of the movement of the touch detected by the detector, andretrieve the image corresponding to the direction of the movement of thetouch from the storage device to display the retrieved image accordingto the direction of the movement.
 2. The device as claimed in claim 1,wherein the controller comprises: a retrieving device configured toretrieve the image corresponding to the movement; and a display pointcalculator configured to calculate a point where the retrieved image isdisplayed.
 3. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the image isdisplayed to represent a trace of the moving trajectory of the movement.4. The device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the image represents adrag.
 5. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller causesthe image to gradually fade away as time passes.
 6. The device asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the controller changes the image as timepasses.
 7. The device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the image ischanged based on a distance of the movement.
 8. The device as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the image is an icon or a combination of iconspreviously assigned in accordance with the movement.
 9. The device asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the image is a sentence or word previouslyassigned in accordance with the movement.
 10. The device as claimed inclaim 1, wherein voice information corresponding to the movement isfurther stored in the storage device, and the controller displays theretrieved image corresponding to the movement and simultaneously outputsthe voice information.
 11. Digital equipment comprising the touch screendevice of claim
 1. 12. The digital equipment of claim 11, wherein thedigital equipment comprises a MP3 player, a portable media player, aPDA, a portable terminal, a navigation system, or a notebook computer.13. A touch screen device, comprising: a touch panel configured todetect a touch drag regarding a menu; a touch panel controllerconfigured to signalize the touch drag detected on the touch panel andcontrol the touch panel; a display configured to display images; animage storage device configured to store an image corresponding to thetouch drag detected on the touch panel; and a main controller configuredto: control operations of the touch panel controller and the display;retrieve an image corresponding to the detected touch drag, the imagebeing at least one of a drag image, an icon, a combination of icons, ortext, wherein the image is different from the menu; generate theretrieved image to be displayed along the touch drag together with themenu with which the touch drag is associated if a touch for the touchdrag is maintained on the touch panel for a predetermined period oftime; and prevent the retrieved image from being displayed if the touchfor the touch drag is released from the touch panel before thepredetermined period of time elapses, wherein the main controller isfurther configured to: calculate a direction of the touch drag from adigital signal received from the touch panel controller, and retrievethe image corresponding to the direction of the touch drag from theimage storage device to display the retrieved image according to thedirection of the touch drag.
 14. The device as claimed in claim 13,wherein the image storage device further stores voice informationcorresponding to the touch drag.
 15. The device as claimed in claim 13,wherein the image information [and voice information are] is classifiedby operation mode.
 16. The device as claimed in claim 15, wherein theimage storage device is a NOR flash memory.
 17. The device as claimed inclaim 16, further comprising: a USB port connected to an external deviceconfigured to update or modify the image information and voiceinformation stored in the image storage device.
 18. The device asclaimed in claim 17, further comprising: a data image storage deviceconfigured to store data of the touch screen device; and a RAMconfigured to drive the touch screen.
 19. The device as claimed in claim18, wherein a portion of the data image storage device is configuredinto the image storage device.
 20. The device as claimed in claim 13,wherein the image is an image displayed to represent a trace of a dragtrajectory.
 21. The device as claimed in claim 13, wherein the maincontroller causes the image to gradually fade away as time passes. 22.The device as claimed in claim 13, wherein the main controller changesthe image as time passes.
 23. The device as claimed in claim 13, whereinthe image is changed based on a distance of the touch drag.
 24. Thedevice as claimed in claim 13, wherein the image is an icon or acombination of icons which is previously assigned in accordance with thetouch drag.
 25. The device as claimed in claim 13, wherein the image isa sentence or word which is previously assigned in accordance with thetouch drag.
 26. The device as claimed in claim 13, wherein the maincontroller displays an image corresponding to the touch drag andsimultaneously transmits the voice information.
 27. A method ofoperating a touch screen device, the method comprising: detecting atouch on a menu and movement thereof on a screen; retrieving an imagecorresponding to the detected movement, the image being at least one ofa drag image, an icon, a combination of icons, or text, wherein theimage is different from the menu; generating the retrieved image to bedisplayed along a moving trajectory of the movement together with themenu with which the touch is associated if the touch is maintained onthe screen for a predetermined period of time; and preventing theretrieved image from being displayed if the touch is released from thescreen before the predetermined period of time elapses, wherein themethod further comprises: calculating a direction of the detectedmovement of the touch, and retrieving the image corresponding to thedirection of the movement to display the retrieved image according tothe direction of the detected movement.
 28. The method as claimed inclaim 27, further comprising: retrieving voice information correspondingto the movement; and outputting the retrieved voice information.
 29. Themethod as claimed in claim 27, wherein the image represents the trace ofthe movement.
 30. The method as claimed in claim 29, wherein the imagerepresents a drag.
 31. The method as claimed in claim 29, wherein theimage gradually fades away as time passes.
 32. The method as claimed inclaim 29, wherein the image is changed as time passes.
 33. The method asclaimed in claim 32, wherein the image is changed based on a distance ofthe movement.
 34. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein the imageis an icon or a combination of icons previously assigned in accordancewith the movement.
 35. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein theimage is a word or sentence previously assigned in accordance with themovement.
 36. A method of operating digital equipment mounted with atouch screen device, comprising the method of claim
 27. 37. The methodof claim 36, wherein the digital equipment comprises a MP3 player, aportable media player, a portable terminal, a navigation system, or anotebook computer.